Asia Mega Tour II - Further Down The Eastern Coast And Into The Riff Valley

We took our second all day tour from Hualien yesterday. It took us further south along the coast then over the Coastal Range and back up through the Riff Valley that stretches for about 115 miles north to south along the Eastern part of the country and is the boundary between the Philippine plate and the Eurasian plate. On the East side of the valley is the Coastal Mountains and and the West side is the Central Mountains.

Let's get into the pictures

Sea Coast...Lots of Sea Coast

Eastern Riff Valley

No so much. The haze was terrible

Geology

More than you could shake a stick at (what the hell does that expression mean?)

Our guide took us to this place where there was a confluence of igneous (volcanic) activity along with the metamorphic activity of the two plates colliding causing some while rock formation.

There's all kinds of folding 

Odd rocks that were found in other media

And sedimentary rock

Plant life

 Photographer not happy to be caught in plant life

Anthropological study of a special species of Great Ape clambering on coastal outcrop.

Anthropologists

Guide

Locals

Plant based dragon from park attached to local low security prison the prisoners maintain...I kid you not

A site dedicated to a former logging operation set up during the Japanese rule period that now focuses on returning good ecological practices to the forest. There were buildings that were restored and those that were original. And a lot of artwork done using the natural woood.

And finally

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

You know the term 'happy as a clam'?

Clearly here is the role model

Taiwan has a serious problem with wave misbehavior

Clearly groping between couples is a big problem